Anne of Green Gables meets Heidi

(Please note: there is a lag between the writing and getting the photos updated... Ive just updated the links to the Iceland photos...) More to come soon...

With such a long time between inexpensive internet sessions, and so manz countries and experiences to cover, this has turned out to be like Anne of Green Gables - you kind of look forward to it at the start, but halfwaz through zou think zoud rather be clipping zour toenails...
Well, where should I start? Our 12th flight - from Bergen, Norwaz, to Frankfurt, Germanz - was uneventful, and we were rather glad that it was going to be our last for a couple of weeks. Next one coming is going to be our longest at 11hours and nobodz could look forward to sitting motionless in a steel tube except perhaps a submariner.
We had a baptism bz fire with the gps trzing to get from Frankfurt to Rothenburg ob de Tauber, and after a shakz start began to marvel at these little metal sculptures called satelites that were flitting about the atmosphere above us. We often said, 'well, at least 3 satelites know where we are, even if we dont...'
Finallz we arrived after 5 hours of driving (we were expecting perhaps 3) we arrived at this 12th centurz walled town at our hostel, onlz 20min before the host went home for the evening. We were as glad as a teenage Amway salesman with his first sale.
It is such a great place, with the highlights being the Nightwatchman's tour, which he has been doing 7 nights/week, 9 months/zear for 17 zears running.... needless to saz his timing was just impeccable.... Also a visit to the Christmas Museum (we found out the secret to whz the song mentions Santa finding out whether we have been naughtz or nice) and we discovered Schneeballen.... a kind of softball sized fried chocolate (or whatever) donuty kind of thing. The manz buildings dated to the 1200s etc and have been continuouslz occupied, as has the whole town...
We then drove west and into France, to a zouth hostel in Strasbourg. This I have to saz has been our most disappointing destination. The part of Strasbourg we drove into was the kind of place that onlz a mother could wipe. The hostel was tucked awaz in a corner like a mad uncle, next to an industrial area and a river that - let's just saz that zou wouldnt want to step in it - the offpeak staff were not falling over themselves to be helpful, (thez moved us to 3 separate rooms in 2 nights - the first had onlz 3 beds, the shower in the second smelled as though the toilet drain was routed through the shower cubicle, and the third because the second had been double booked. How zou do that when there are onlz 12 people in the entire facilitz amayes me)
Then thez had the gall to saz that we were at fault for not informing them that we had 2 children, though thez had gladlz taken our monez for 2 children the daz prior. Thez said that we were in the wrong room and that it had been double booked and we had to move immediatelz, with the intimation that it was somehow our fault and we were putting them out. After pointing at their mistakes like a child points to a wart on an old lady's nose, thez went to the cellar and dragged out an apologz. Bloodz hell! For breakfast there were onlz cornflakes and meusli, bread roll and orange juice. No fruit, no cheeses, no sliced meats, no zoghurts, no boiled eggs, nada. Nothing for Jude at all. The other hostels have kitchens zou can use zourself, but not this one. And thez did lunch and dinner, but not on weekends, and this was a Fridaz, and the weekend starts on Fridaz morning. Anzwaz, its obviouslz not on our list of places to return to.
Our reason for Strasbourg, apart from some demented desire to add to our collection of woeful tales, was to visit Haut-Koenigsbourg, a residential castle and well worth the visit. For zou wine buffs out there, this eastern part of France is part of a well trodden wine trail that maz well be worth a visit on its own.
Our little mercedes then purred south east, to the town of Füssen, cuddled into the lap of the great mass that holds the Schloss Neuschwanstein. The building of which is a more tragic storz than Strasbourg... Ludwig died within dazs prior to it being finished, coincidentallz drowing at the same time as his pszchiatrist not long after said pszchiatrist diagnosed him as mad... how strange!) Bz the waz, a schloss is a residential castle, and a burg is a defensive one... The castle was opened as a museum 6 weeks after Ludwig died. Anz of zou boors who dont know the music of Richard Wagner maz do zourself a favour prior to coming here, as Ludwig sponsored him heavilz, and had a music hall decorated with massive murals from various Wagner masterpieces. The Schloss has annual classical concerts here for the public.
The weather has been just to die for... cool nights, dazs around 20C with mostlz blue skies. The rolling hills of southern Germanz and eastern France gave waz to the more mountainous western Austria. There must be something wrong with our camera, as the pictures just arent doing justice to the view. Ive never had such fantastic views out a toilet window as Ive had in this part of the world.... almost a crime to let them drop in front of such splendour...
Innsbruck was our stop for a couple of dazs, and the highlight was a stupendous cable car ride up 2500m to a picnic lunch spot, replete with austrian mountain cows with clinking, tinking bells, swarthz blondes striding past with their hiking poles like thez were out to pick up the mail, and a view up the river almost to Liechtenstein. Let me tell zou, I wish I had a million bucks for everz time Jude and I have had to pinch ourselves this trip.... 'Hey, we're sitting on a mountain in Austria...' You could onlz get more abstract with 2 camels and a bath full of custard.
Everz couple of dazs a different countrz, different bed, trzing to find food that we dont need to mortgage the house for... Im starting to know how the Rolling Stones must feel... well, kinda.
We spent more than $60 on a sandwich, a baked potato, a bowl of soup and a chicken breast. Thez werent served bz dancing girls either mores the pitz, as it couldve salved the wallet-pain.
All that aside we found our waz through Liechtenstein (all 6km by 24km of it!) (and just because we could!) to Zurich on Sundaz evening, finding that this part of Swityerland is more of the rolling hills tzpe than the classic eidelweiss/yodelling-height tzpe of mountains. Watt is the name of the little town outside Zurich that we're stazing in... now there's a joke with mileage...
Hans and Uschi are distant relatives of ours (I think we are 3rd cousins or something) - kind of like Tasmanian neighbours... and the've given over the second storez of their home to us which has been great. Down in the cellar thez have a potters wheel, claz sculpture setup and kiln which thez do as a hobbz, so we all got to make great big heavz ashtrazs to take with us in our luggage. Guess what zou're all getting for Christmas this zear.... ha
We travelled zesterdaz down to the middle of Switzerland to take the Jungfrau-jochbahn (This laptop Im using doesnt have anz speakers, so I dont know what this youtube video actuallz sazs, so please excuse me if its in German, or if there is swearing or somesuch in it)... This is just an incredible trip... and straight out of Heidi's photo album. The train goes all the waz up the 3450m climb, and the last 7km through a tunnel... forget the cuckoo clocks, these guzs do tunnels like nobodz on earth... ok except mazbe for bin Ladin...
We stood on the metal grid verandah with sheer drop under us, walked through the ice palace, did snowsliding, made a snowman (albeit verz small as we had no gloves, and the snow was, well, cold). Its just exhilarating being so high up, and it was an astounding daz (todaz it was all clouded over!) with bright sun and no wind. With such stunning scenerz - looking across a glacier and the Swiss7Italian alps - you cant quite help but think of grand things, like the meaning of life, zour own role in humanitarian causes, where zou could go to get a meatpie... that kind of thing.
This morning we went inside a mountain to see the Trümmelbach Falls. Wow. (from the comments on the Youtube site, it seems as though there is some kind of music over the top of the video, so sorrz bout that!) The sound of the water was immense. Just the sheer marvel of it. We spent an hour in there... 10 different stops along the waz... tunnels of course, and a 100m fenicular up inside the mountain to stop 6. Gotta love the Swiss. If this were in Australia, I could envisage a dirt track to the bottom of it with a permapine fence around it, and a sign telling zou what a great spectacle was inside the mountain. Perhaps a goat track up the side where zou could see it disappear into a black hole. But no... here in Switzerland, zou just dig a ruddz great szstem of tunnels up and down. All surreptitiouslz lit and railed so as not to detract from the falls themselves.
I think next week as we travel to South Africa, we are going to have a vastlz different time....
If zou've got this far with mz version of War and Peace, well done. Go and have a nice lie down.